Failure to Yield: It's Epidemic

From my office window, I have an excellent view of a quarter mile section of the westbound lane of I-40 through West Knoxville. Almost daily, and often more than once, motorists are pulled to the side of the road and issued a traffic citation for speeding. However, Failure to Yield is the true root of the traffic problems and road rage on our highways.

What is Failure to Yield? It’s driving in the left hand lane when traffic is backed up behind you, or the right lane is clear. It’s turning on your indicator and assuming you have the right to pull over. It’s pulling from an on ramp into traffic at 20 miles an hour below the posted speed. For the purpose of this article let’s focus on the left hand lane; the passing lane.

Just so you know I drive fast. In my defense, I walk fast too. The fact that someone drives faster than you, or the speed limit, doesn’t give you the right to tie up the left hand lane. I have a good friend that refers to their self as a “blocker.” He believes that it is his duty to slow traffic down in the left hand lane. The left hand lane is a passing lane. The sole purpose of this lane is to allow traffic to flow unimpeded. If you drive in the left hand lane you will notice a sign in the median that says, “Slower Traffic Keep Right.”

My wife would say, just pass them on the right, what’s the big deal. The big deal is I already know they can’t drive and to pass them on the right puts me in their blind spot. It causes me to merge into slower traffic and find enough room to get around them, when they are going the speed of traffic in the right hand lane already. And, it’s illegal to pass someone on the right hand side. That’s why we have a passing lane. Unfortunately, one does not have to venture very far to observe the behavior of these “blockers.”

Take Pellissippi Parkway from I-40 towards Maryville any weekday afternoon and you will observe far more traffic in the left hand lane than in the right. Oddly enough, I have noticed a pattern that many of these individuals have Blount County tags (that’s a tip for the officers in the area). You will notice a pattern of 8 to 10 cars in a line in the left hand lane and 2-3 in the same section of roadway in the right hand lane. This is what causes road rage. This is what causes accidents. So, how do you prevent it?

I would estimate that the Knoxville Police Department generates nearly $10 million each year in revenue from citations issued. This information used to be published in an annual report. Somewhere in the last 30 years that document went from being an accounting document showing revenue and expenses, to being a slick PR piece. If a breakdown was available of the number of citations issued for speeding versus those issued for failure to yield, I’m sure you would see why this is an epidemic problem on our roadways today.

This is not just a local problem. You can see this pattern on any interstate in the country today, no matter where you drive. The problem is not caused by our law enforcement officers it is the fault of the individuals oblivious to those behind them. So, if you are one of these “blockers”, move over. Your actions are just as illegal as the person behind you trying to pass.


This blog is the personal opinion of the writer and is published as editorial comment.